A mainlander holding a family visit permit suspected of having entered into a sham marriage and producing forged arrival cards was arrested with his “wife”, a middleman and two overstayers last week, Public Security Police (PSP) spokesman Wong Wai Chon said during a regular press conference on Monday.

The 33-year-old mainland suspect, surnamed Zhang, is suspected to have been the leader of the trio. He told the police that he is jobless. His 43-year-old “wife”, surnamed Ao, and the 36-year-old middle man, surnamed Lam, are local residents.

Wong said PSP officers unearthed more information from a suspect surnamed Chen when they continued their investigations into last week’s forged arrival card case. Zhang is suspected of having entered into a marriage of convenience so that he could stay in Macau and produced a number of forged arrival cards to make some money. Ao, Lam and two overstayers from the mainland were arrested last week. The duo had illegally stayed in Macau since early last month. The police seized nine forged arrival cards and believe that Zhang had produced at least 20 forged arrival cards.

According to Wong, PSP officers arrested Chen on April 30 for using a fake arrival card. During the investigation, Chen confessed that he had bought the bogus arrival card from Lam.

Wong said the police tracked down Lam and arrested him in his flat in Rua da Saúde in Iao Hon district last week. Lam told the police that Zhang was the one who produced the fake cards. The police arrested Zhang and the two male overstayers in a hotel room in Cotai. Afterwards, the police seized a computer, a printer, a copier, two genuine arrival cards and nine roughly made forged arrival cards in a flat rented by Zhang in Travessa da Praia in Areia Preta district.

According to Wong, Zhang refused to cooperate with the police, while the two overstayers claimed to have met Zhang in a casino and bought the forged documents from him for 300 yuan each. They told the police that Zhang sublet them his hotel room. The police later discovered that Zhang had sold at least 20 fake arrival cards since July last year.

In the wake of the investigation, the police also discovered that Zhang and Ao entered into a sham marriage in 2014 so that Zhang could stay longer in Macau. Ao told the police that she and Zhang couldn’t get along so that she lived by herself in a flat in Rua da Ponte Negra in Taipa. However, both stayed in touch through a social media platform.

The suspects were transferred to the Public Prosecution Office (MP) on Saturday, facing charges of producing forged documents, and aiding and abetting illegal immigration.